2016 Chevrolet Camaro Six

Trending News: This Might Be The Sickest Camaro Ever Made

Why Is This Important?

Because it’s the brand new Camaro. Duh.

Long Story Short

Chevrolet pulls back the sheets on the sixth generation of a muscle car legend.

Long Story

In the heart of Belle Isle, the racetrack built to host the Detroit Grand Prix, Chevrolet put on what can only be described as a Camaro Bacchanalia. Hundreds of gleaming Camaros from the late '60s onward collected in the parking lot, many coming from hundreds of miles away, to witness an event that had only occurred five other times in the past half century: The unveiling of an all-new Camaro.

Chevy’s Executive Vice President of Global Prod Development, Mark Reuss, stood on the darkened stage and gushed lovingly at the importance of the moment. Although arguably not as important as Chevy’s own Corvette or Ford’s Mustang (or the hyperly anticipated GT40), the Camaro is nonetheless one of the more legendary muscle cars in America’s long fascination with horsepower.

When three Camaro Sixes finally drove onto the stage under much fanfare, the crowd stirred into a collective climax. While looking much like the previous fifth gen, the Camaro Six takes its retro styling and futurizes it with an even more slender grille, new LED running lights around glowering headlamps, tighter greenhouse, deeper front intake and fastback-like profile.

The gen-five’s 2014 mid-cycle refresh already slendered up the grille, so the further slimming seems evolutionary, not revolutionary. But while the Camaro Six may cosmetically resemble its predecessor, Chevy vows the only carryover pieces from one gen to the next is the Bowtie emblem and SS badge.

What really modernizes the Six isn’t its looks, however — it’s the guts. It will be built on GM’s new Alpha architecture, that which defines Cadillac’s ATS (and brilliant ATS-V). Despite the shared chassis, Chevy suits claim the Six contains 70% Camaro-specific parts.

The emphasis has been in lightening up the latest generation muscle car, and Chevy engineers have been successful in shaving over 200 lbs. This was accomplished via the extensive use of aluminum including the whole hood, dashboard support and several front suspension components.

Six different powertrain options will be offered, with all three engine options available with either the rev-matching 6-speed manual or the 8-speed automatic. The engines include the first turbocharged lump ever, a 275-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder that also happens to be the most efficient Camaro in history (30 mpg/highway). A 335-hp 3.6L V6 with Direct Injection and Variable Valve Timing beefs things up a bit, all the way up to the SS’s 6.2L “LT1” V8 plucked from the Corvette C7 Stingray. With 455-hp and 455-lb ft torque, it will be the most powerful SS ever built.

Perhaps the biggest gain in the Six is the interior, which even at casual glance looks like a quantum leap over all previous Camaros. Interiors are still where American manufacturers seem to trail European OEMs consistently. We’ve never been exactly sure why GM, Ford and Dodge/FCA can’t make this a priority, but if the Six is any sign then at least they’re headed in the right direction. The SS up on the stage featured a rich red and black duotone leather interior, with nice touches like perforated leather, a short-throw stick, driver-focused ergonomics and leather wrapped, flat-bottom steering wheel.

Other bells and whistles include Brembo brakes standard on all models, 20” alloy wheels (18” standard), wireless phone charging, high-def 8” color displays and GM’s superlative MRC (Magnetic Ride Control) suspension on the SS — tech once only available on the highest-tier ZL1. The Drive Mode Selector (DMS) allows the driver to tailor up to eight different attributes including throttle mapping, steering weight, stability control, exhaust sound and even lighting. This last feature was particularly salient up on the podium, filling the Camaro Six’s interior with 24 different programmable lighting colors and effects.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Does the Camaro Six do enough design-wise to cause a stir in a very competitive segment?

Disrupt Your Feed: After trailing the Mustang for almost its entire life, the Camaro has outsold Ford’s Pony for the past five years; Chevy’s performance stable (Camaro, Corvette C7 and SS) claimed 26% of all performance cars sold in America last year. The Camaro Six will certainly further stoke the GM furnace.

Drop This Fact: GM’s new third-generation Magnetic Ride Control reads the road 1000x per second, giving the Camaro Six great comfort and range of drivability.